Movie Review: “Bad Milo” – A Disappointing Comedic Attempt

Written by Olivia Pierratos October 16, 2013

When you hear about a movie with Gillian Jacobs of “Community” and Ken Marino of “Wanderlust”, you would expect some silliness and absurdity – but a murderous demon climbing in and out of Marino’s ass? That’s a little much. Some argue this film has an acquired taste, but even for the butt-humour lovers, and Marino and Gillian Jacobs fans, this movie’s plot distracted from all other positive elements. Looking at the trailer you will pretty much see all there is to be seen. “Bad Milo” did not make me laugh past the first time Marino forced a demon baby out of his ass, and from there it lacked any depth or emotional stimulus.

Stress Pains…

Duncan (Marino) is a soft-spoken submissive man with stomach problems brought on by stress and anxiety. We learn this is a condition where an inner demon climbs painfully out of Marino’s ass, several uncomfortable times throughout the movie in order to feed his urge to kill people. It also acts as a metaphor for Duncan’s stress, which he needs to tame in order to get his life together in preparation for becoming a father.

“You’ve got a thing in your butt”

Our first glimpse of the creature Duncan names Milo does not happen immediately, leaving me excited until we actually see the creature which is not what you you expect. The demon, Milo, which Marino’s character craps out, looks like a cross between E.T and a fur-less Ewok with a homicidal personality. This could have been hilarious, but its execution was pathetic. It has little movement except when it bares its teeth and flings itself across the room at its victims.

There were several moments where I was in total shock and questioning why I was watching this movie. For example, there’s a scene where Milo bites off a man’s penis. No panning shots or simple after-effects scene – just full on dick ripping. Even though I am without penis, I felt…violated.

Some highlights

There were some positive elements to this movie, however small. The irony of Duncan’s office being in a bathroom, Gillian Jacob’s attempt to defend herself from Milo by throwing sex toys at it, and my favourite, Dr. Yeager’s explanation of the demon with the story of The Myth of the Anus. In this scene Duncan and Dr. Yeager pull an Indiana Jones by looking in an old book at an ancient Egyptian graphic, telling the story that inspires the beginning of Duncan’s mission to find the last stone tablet, oops! I mean bond with his crazy ass-demon named Milo.

“If you want to shine you have to take a dump on your enemies”

Marino, unfortunately, did not come off as neurotic or anxious as I would have hoped although gets a pass in playing Duncan because hey, it’s Ken Marino. The only scenes where I felt he exhibited these vital plot-driving emotions were when he was pushing out his demon-baby from his asshole…good job Marino. He attempts a Jason Bateman-like performance throughout, speaking at a nervously fast pace and seemingly naïve and submissive to his boss, his family and even at times his wife, played by Britta Perry, uhm, I mean Gillian Jacobs.

Gillian’s performance was…forgettable, and unemotional. I kept waiting for Jeff Winger or the Dean to walk through a door because I was pretty sure I was watching Britta. With Jacobs’ bland and familiar performance came a lack of chemistry between Duncan and his wife.

Overall:

This movie’s crazy ass-demon premise had comedic potential but was thwarted by lack of depth plot-wise and Britta Perry showing up.